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Year:    1986
Studio:  Paramount Pictures
Feature: 3/5
DVD:     0/5

Pretty in Pink is the third of the John Hughes' Ringwald Trilogy, starring Molly Ringwald as 18-year old Andie Walsh, a high school senior from the poor side of the tracks. She has just broken up with her richie boyfriend Steff (James Spader) but has caught the eye of another richie, Steff's friend Blane (Andrew McCarthy).

Meanwhile Andie has to deal with her father Jack (Harry Dean Stanton), who has almost let go of life after mom left him four years ago. Andie has a friend and employer in Iona (Annie Potts) and a friend who wants their relationship to be so much more in Duckie (Jon Cryer).

Ok, so the main theme is that Blane and Andie start dating and it seems that many people don't want this to happen. Steff and Blane's other friends look down on the white trash Andie. Duckie is jealous of Blane and although it's just him on Andie's side of the friends he's quite a handful.

Anyways, Blane does leave Andie, handling it quite badly. Devastated, Andie is not going to let them beat her. She's going to prom anyway. And she's going to make her own great pink dress to wear at the prom. Hence the name of the movie. To the tune of OMD's "If You Leave" she goes to the prom and her final confrontation with Blane.
It's a fairly ok movie. Above average though now that I've watched it more carefully it does wander a bit, like John Hughes' other movies. I guess there's a certain charm to it though filmmaking has changed since then. Like Andrew "Dice" Clay who is there for a couple of scenes and is totally superfluous as a club bouncer. Someone was doing him a favor.

There are a couple of actors I recognized. Gina Gershon playing a rich girl friend who also hates Andie. And at the prom Duckie hooks up with Kristy Swanson in a non-speaking role (looking it up, it's apparently her first movie credit).

Copyright (c) 2005 Kevin C. Wong
Page Created: February 14, 2005 Page Last Updated: February 14, 2005